Celebrate your country and community in downtown Crabapple this July 4^th for Red, White, and YOU – the City’s fun, family-friendly Independence Day extravaganza.

This year’s edition will take place that Friday between 9 a.m. and noon, before the summer heat can ratchet up and other plans kick in for the rest of their day and evening. The action will center around Broadwell Pavilion (12615 Broadwell Road), though that’s not the only place you will find it.

For one thing, it wouldn’t be a Milton Independence Day event without the “Walking Parade.” This is where everyone and anyone follows First Responders in a stroll around a nearby neighborhood – in other words, you are the parade – before returning to Broadwell Pavilion. The 2025 edition should start around 9:45 that morning. People patriotically dress up themselves, their children, their wagons and strollers, and their pets to make this hometown tradition even more special. (For children’s safety, please no golf carts rolling in the parade.)

A few of those adorned in their red, white, and blue best will be singled out with one of the following awards: Best Dressed Family, Best Dressed Kid, Most Creative, and Flashiest Wheels (the latter for only non-motorized vehicles). If you want to contend for one, check in at the Painted Horse Winery and Vineyards horse trailer to get your photo taken prior to parading.

There will be plenty to do before and after the “parade,” especially for young people. This includes face painting, getting a twisted balloon animal or other creation, grooving to a DJ’s tunes, coloring and crafting, or dropping by the Sweet &  Sassy booth for hair glitter, tattoos, and more. New this year: Kids can soak it up in a foam pit, keeping things clean and fun.

If all this activity makes you hot or hungry, you’re in luck. Cooks at the Frybaby food truck will serve up breakfast bowls and other morning specials, in addition to grilled cheese and their signature assortment of French fries and tots. Not far away, Milton Fire Corps volunteers will grill hot dogs, while Pelican’s SnoBalls (with shaved ice) and King of Pops (popsicles) will offer cool treats. Or you can get a warmer liquid pick-me-up, or an iced one, from Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee.

Special thanks to our top-level “Stars” sponsors at the Reid Casey Real Estate team and Painted Horse Winery and Vineyards, as well as “Stripes” sponsor from Stable Orthodontics, for generously supporting this and other community.

To make Red, White, and YOU possible, Broadwell Road will close at 7 a.m. between Marstrow Drive and the Crabapple Road/Mayfield Road stoplight. It should reopen around 2 p.m. In the meantime, traffic will be detoured; if you’re heading out, you might want to proactively take alternate routes.